Graduating from high school, moving out on my own with my best friend, feeling very grown up, briefly attending Cal Poly before enlisting in the Air Force instead...

Good times. Interesting times for sure.

Me circa 2000

I was definitely searching for recipes often enough (on Allrecipes and its ilk, obviously) with my best friend and roommate as we cooked meals and drank Arbor Mist and dipped our toes in the grown up waters back then.

Anyway, so I found this cookie recipe and in the Hall of Fame collection and knew it had to be made.

They're pretty basic chocolate cookies- of the crinkle top variety, not the roll-out, which makes life easy. The dough is just wrapped around a Milk Dud, rolled in sugar, and baked.

Super easy.

The original recipe called for nuts but my daughter saw me pulling them out of the pantry and balked- so no nuts this time. I'm sure they'd be good as originally written, but we loved them like this.

I kind of expected to enjoy these more fresh out of the oven when the caramel was at it's gooiest, but I think the consensus in our home was that- while they were good that way- they were best when completely cooled. The caramel stays soft and they're just delightful!

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Combine remaining 1/2 cup nuts (if using) with the 1 tablespoon sugar. Divide the dough into 4 parts. Work with one part at a time, leaving the remainder in the refrigerator until needed. Divide each part into 12 pieces. Quickly press each piece of dough around a chocolate covered caramel. Roll into a ball. Roll ball in sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

3. Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool for 3 to 4 minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.